Blind Passion
by BuffyChik
Summary: Faith is in town, and Buffy is trying to get used to the new Slayer while she tries to deal with Angel being back as well. Can she trust her friends if she tells them about Angel coming back, or will they turn on her if she doesn't?
1. Ch1

                        Ch.1

            Buffy lay silently on her bed as she listened to her best friend Willow talk about Oz over the phone.  She would smile every now and then, but she would mainly wish they could move onto a different subject since she no longer had her Angel to jabber on about.  _How could I ever tell __Willow__ that I wished she would talk less about Oz and worry more about other things that are more important, Buffy questioningly thought to herself.  "Hey, Willow, I think we'd better call it a night…I mean, it is kindave two o'clock in the morning, and I don't really want to know why you're still up," Buffy said with a small laugh.  "Sure it's ok for me to be up, since I have no life other then my slaying, but go to bed, girlie.  Besides, you have school to worry about in the morning."_

            "Um, Buffy, so do you.  Why are you suddenly saying that I should get to bed?  I get more sleep during the night then you do anyways." Willow ran her fingers through her hair, said goodnight to her friend and dropped the receiver back onto its holder and retired to her bed for the night.

            Buffy looked around her room after she hung up her own phone and set it back on her desk.  She always felt like something went different through the night ever since she came back to Sunnydale from L.A. last week, especially since the fact that she found about a new slayer, Faith.  How strange it is…its not like I really died or anything, Buffy thought to herself.   She stood from her bed and stepped over to her dresser and picked up the Claddah ring Angel had given to her the night of her seventeenth birthday.  She turned it over between her fingers and then grabbed her coat from her chair and slipped the ring into a pocket and then put on the jacket.  She could easily slip out her window without her mother knowing, but this time she felt like using the front door for a change.  

            Walking the streets at night always somehow managed to give Buffy an extra lift knowing that she could protect the people from all the knasties that lurked the streets at night.  At the moment however, she was heading over to Angel's mansion to return the ring to him by laying it on the spot where she had to send him to hell.  She glanced around her and then picked up her walking pace as she neared the mansion with every breath she took into her body.  She bit her bottom lip slightly as she stood on the doorstep and looked at the two huge wooden doors.  She slowly opened them and took a step inside and then closed the distance between her and her least favorite spot and took the ring from her jacket and placed a single kiss on it and set it on the floor.  "Goodbye, Angel."  She didn't even hear the noises coming from the mansion once she was on the street.

            "So how's Miss save the world today?  I hope she's doing better then I am," Cordelia said with a huff as their little group walked down the hellish hallways of Sunnydale High School. 

            Buffy laughed softly and shrugged.  "I guess I'm doing ok, I mean, sure I could be all bouncy and say "Hi, I'm Buffy, and you're not", but that would just be wrong."

            "Ah, so Buffy isn't a perky puppy today then?"  Xander gave her a smile and stuck his hands in his pockets as they stepped into the Cafeteria for their lunch hour.  

            "Now did I say I wasn't a 'perky puppy'?  No I did not."  Buffy gave Xander her own smile and then looked to Cordelia.  "I really do pity you sometimes, Cordy."  She picked up a lunch tray and moved on down the line to get the food that she wanted.  

            "I pity myself sometimes, believe me."  Cordelia moved up in line behind Buffy as she scrunched up her nose is pure disgust of the food lain out before them.  "Thank god the food is behind the glass, otherwise I would think that it would take form and kill us all."

            Buffy looked at the beautiful brunette with a quirked brow.  "You have been around Xander way too much," she said with a shake of her head.  "Maybe it really was a good thing you two finally broke it off."  She headed over to an empty table with Cordy and sat down with her.

            "Excuse me?  I never want to hear about us even dating anymore.  It's just wrong, and it must be stopped."  Cordelia flipped her hair over her shoulder like the perfect cheerleader she was and started to slowly eat the food on her tray.

            Xander then loped up behind them and sat down in the empty seat.  "Ok, so where's Willow and Oz?  I haven't seen them basically all day."  He took a sip from his Juicy Juice and looked between the two girls.  "Why does it seem like you two were talking about me?  If you were it's ok to hurt my foolish pride."  Xander wiped away a fake tear and looked away from them as he started to eat his food.

            Buffy laughed and shook her head.  "Ok, so we were talking about you, and no, I haven't seen the two doves all day either.  Willow usually shows up at my locker at some point, but not today."  

            Xander half-smiled and said in a slow voice.  "Dum dum dum…"  He smiled sheepishly when Buffy gave him a look and then shrugged.  "Ok, so maybe it's not time for me to be making with the funny, I apologize."

            "Apology not accepted, Xander.  Why can't you keep your loser being to yourself?"  Cordelia was as usual, trying to make herself fit into the 'I'm being useful' column, but it wasn't working.        

Buffy hid a smile and looked at Xander then at Cordelia.  "Oook, I'm keeping my butt out of this one," she said as she stood with her tray in her hands and headed over to the tray drop off line.  She sighed softly as she headed out of the cafeteria and made her way down to her locker which was thankfully away from all the teens just hanging out in the hallway talking about how much they hated their teachers or how much they wished they could drop out without their parents having a heart attack over it.  She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she thought about she ran away from her mother, and from the life that she had created here.  _I had to though.  It's not like I could have stayed her anyways with Snyder crawling up my back, and then there's the fact that he expelled me last year.  God, if only I could lay my hands on him and just wring the life out of him, Buffy thought to herself.  She finally made it over to her locker and she turned the lock knob over to its numbers and then opened her locker to find a note from Willow lying on top of her books.  "Like you couldn't have come to me and told me?  Geez, I'm talking to myself now, great, fantastic…"  She looked around her to make sure someone hadn't called the police on her because of her obvious psychoness she had going on for her out in the middle on the hallway.  She shrugged and opened the note and read it over before stuffing it into the pocket of her jeans.  __Okie dokie, Will, so you came here and then went home sick?  Is Oz sick with you?  God, I don't understand why she would just leave without any word to us, Buffy thought to herself._

Faith stalked the streets of Sunnydale and looked around her at all the working class people milling around because their lunch break was going on.  She glanced down at her tight leather pants and her small tank top and shrugged.  _Looks good to me, Faith thought to herself.  She ran her fingers through her hair and thought about what Buffy would say if she told her she was going to try and enroll into Sunnydale High.  She smirked and shook her head and stuck her hands in her pockets.  __Why should I even have __to worry about crappy school anyways?  I'm the slayer, and all I should be thinking about is how I'm going to fight, and not about studying for a final.  Buffy just doesn't understand the difference between a slayer and a regular human.  I do, and I know why she thinks of me as a weak person, but I don't care what she thinks of me, I'm my own person, she thought to herself.  She would occasionally give a smile to a good looking guy that would walk by her, but otherwise she would keep her eyes on the ground as she walked.  She couldn't help but wonder how one teenage girl could spend so much time on the street and still not really know where the hell she was going without Buffy to help her along.  __She's in school right now though, so what good does that do me?  If only she didn't have school, Faith thought to herself.  _

Buffy rolled her eyes as a teacher called on her to answer a question from the previous night's assigned reading.  She thankfully answered the question correctly even though she didn't get to read the twenty page Women's Rights literature until 2:30 in the morning.  She scribbled down some notes as the teacher rambled on about how Susan B. Anthony did this and that back in the day.  She tapped her pen on her notebook as she looked up at the clock on the wall that seemed to tick ever so slowly.  She looked away from the clock as it seemed to tick even slower when she would stare it down with an evil glare as she wished the bell would ring.  _Oh well, it's thankfully the last period of the day and then I can get in mom's car and drive home and start on my dreadful homework, Buffy thought to herself.  At least she hoped she could just go home and do her homework without Giles dragging her into an unwanted training session with the new slayer, Faith.  She really didn't know what to say around the girl since she seemed like an outsider who didn't want the human touch.  __Why do I think of Rick Springfield when I think of human touch?  Oh yea, cause he had to come out with a stupid song called the "Human Touch", Buffy thought to herself.  She jumped slightly when the bell rang and the stampede of seniors rushed out of the room to end their day at school once again.  She stood and exited the room after the crowd had left and headed towards the front of the school to meet her mom out there like she had done ever since she came here when she was a sophomore and just starting to get used to her slayer capabilities.  She waved at her mom and headed over to the Cherokee car and got in.  "Hey mom, glad you could manage getting here without running down the psycho kids who think they're cool because they get to walk home.  Well haha, this Summers girl gets a ride from her mom."  She leaned over to her and gave her a peck on the cheek._

Joyce laughed and drove off.  "Someone seems to be in a good mood today, even though I sense you're really not."

Buffy shrugged and gazed out the window as the houses and kept up lawns went by.  "It was weird today, because Willow was at school, and I didn't see her…and then I find a note in my locker saying she had gone home sick.  Also what was weird, was the fact that Oz had been MIA as well.  So basically all day after lunch I had been thinking about that stupid note and trying to think of why she would just leave school."

Joyce glanced over at her daughter and then back at the road.  "Well honey, maybe Willow had a family emergency and she just had to leave.  It doesn't mean that she has to be sick, and it doesn't mean that she has to check in and out with you, Buffy."

"I know that, mom, but I just wish that I could hear from her so I can quit all my worrying and start worrying about how I'm going to get all my homework done and still manage to fit in a patrol with Faith tonight."

"Buffy, why don't you invite Faith over for dinner tomorrow night?  I would really like to meet the girl, and I'm sure she's a real sweetheart."

Buffy couldn't help but stare at Faith as she entered the graveyard in her leather pants and her tank top.  "You patrol in outfits like that?  How can you even move in those pants?"

Faith smiled and then laughed.  "Gimme a break, B, you just got to know how to dodge and punch to kill a vamp anyways."  She stretched and popped her neck and sat down in front of the gravestone Buffy was sitting on.  "So anything new happen in you life today?"

Buffy looked at Faith and tossed her stake in the air and caught it.  "I like to believe in privacy when it comes down to it, but no, nothing really 'new' happened today.  Just the fact that one of my friends just disappeared from school.  I'm trying not to think of that right now so, if you would be so kind and not ask questions about it."

"On the edge much?  Ok, yea, you want to forget about it, but maybe you should dwell on it so you can get over it."  Faith looked around her then up at the blonde slayer.  "Who was your friend?"

"Willow, the red head.  I'm not sure if you remember her or not, but she's the one who went 'poof!' with no return."  She looked at Faith and then around her.  "Hey um, would you like to come over for dinner tomorrow?  My mom would like to meet you and everything, she's the motherly type who wants to get to know my new friends."

Faith shrugged and then smiled.  "Oh I suppose I can make an appearance with a sweet smile and wave and manage to get through dinner without staining the carpet with tea or something."  She quickly got up then and took a step back and looked at Buffy.  "We get to party now, B."  She drew out her stake and leaped into the group of about seven vampires.

"Great, and we were starting to have a bonding moment and everything."  She flipped herself over the gravestone after standing and landed behind the group of vampires and dusted one from behind and threw a bone splintering kick to the spine of another and quickly dusted him.  She watched as Faith took her time pummeling one vampire and she quirked a brow.  "Um, Faith, it's called slaying for a reason, because you kill things."  She started in on the other remaining vamps that Faith hadn't even bothered to touch.

"You bitch…how could you?"  Faith slammed her fist into the vampires face again and again, even though he was way beyond being knocked unconscious.  "I spend my nights coming after you!"  She thrust the stake into the demon's heart and flipped her hair over her shoulder and threw the stake into the heart of another vamp as she stood.  She withdrew another stake and started to help Buffy with the remaining four vampires.

Buffy was again standing in front of the doors to Angel's mansion like she had been the night before.  She took in a breath and shoved them open and gasped as something lunged at her and pinned her back against the doors as they slammed closed.  She threw the attacker off her and looked at him.  Her eyes widened as she saw who it really was.  "Angel.."


	2. Ch2

            Ch.2

            Buffy stood silently as she stared at Angel who was obviously not used to his surroundings.  "How can it be…?  I sent you to hell."  She jumped back when he made another lunge for her and she shoved him away from her.  "Ok, obviously you're traumatized or something…but I'm B-u-f-f-y"   Buffy sighed softly and ran her fingers through her hair as she tried to think of how Angel could just zap back into her life.  Then it all clicked in her head as she realized that the night before she had in a way, given the ring back to Angel and it had somehow brought him back to Earth.  She paced for a minute as she watched Angel move back and forth with her.  "Hello, are you alive in there?"  She waved her hand back and forth in front of his face and then took his arm and moved him into the living room and sat down with him on the couch.  "Can you at least say something?"  She ran her fingers through his hair and rest her hand alongside his cheek.

            Angel turned his cheek into her hand and rest one of his own over hers.  "Buffy..?  Is it really you?"  He looked into her eyes and ran a finger under her chin and brushed his lips against hers.

            "Whoa, ok, whoa…you just got back from *hell* and now you want to make with the smoochies?"  She suddenly felt like an idiot for saying that, but she just couldn't let him jump all over her.  "Angel, I'm sorry…," she said as she lowered her hand from his cheek and folded her hands in her lap.  "It's just…you're here…with me…like I've been wishing for ever since you had to go.  It's all I've ever wanted."  She wrapped her arms around him in an embrace and kissed him ever so lightly.

            "Buffy, all I've wanted is to be able to come back to you as well…I had missed you so."  He kissed her back just as lightly and wrapped his arms around her as well.  "But you have to understand the fact that you did kindave send me to hell…"

            She raised her head to look into his eyes which she could tell were filled with passion, yet had just the hint of sadness.  "I had to though, or else the whole world would have been sucked into hell…and after I sent you there, I had to leave home, Angel.  My mother and I had gotten into a fight, and she got so mad that she said if I walked out the door, I shouldn't even think of coming back…"  She lowered her gaze from him and shook her head.  "It's not the fact that you're treating this like every single moment is my fault, it's the fact that you're taking everything in the wrong direction."  She leaned back from his arms and stood and stared him down.  "Don't you even care?"

            Angel stood and looked down at her.  "Buffy of course I care, I never even so much got to tell you how I felt about you…and that's what you're not getting."  He headed to the back of the mansion where his room was located and slipped on a tank top shirt and sat down on the edge of his bed.

            Buffy watched him go and didn't even bother to go after him and try to get her foot out of her mouth from what she said to him.  "Good going, Buffy," she said softly to herself.  She made her way to the front door and stepped outside and let it slam shut behind her as she walked down the streets with her hands in the pockets of her coat.  _How could he even say that to me?  He treats me as if I'm a child who doesn't know what he had to go through, but I had to go through it as well.  Is he turning this so much around so he can make it easier on himself?  Is it so that at the end of the night he feels better about himself?  Now I have another life mystery to worry about tonight, and I haven't even gone patrolling yet by myself…just peachy, Buffy thought to herself.  She made her way into the graveyard and sat down on her usual gravestone and pulled her hands out of her pockets and rested them on her knees.  She just couldn't get over the whole meeting with Angel.  "I feel like I can't even be around myself anymore," Buffy thought out loud.  "Which I probably can't.  Maybe I should just forget about anything else tonight and just go home…"  She sighed as sensing a vampire and she stood and drew out a stake.  "Me going home involves the likes of you not coming near me, got that?"  She turned on her heel to face the vamp then arched a brow when it was Angel.  "Come to give me another lecture or something?  Because if so, I'm going home to my own bed to sleep."  She turned her back on him, which she regretted because Giles always told her not to turn her back to anyone or anything.  She could almost feel his hot breath against the back of her neck as he came up behind her a few paces back, but she pressed on with walking, she wasn't about to give into him.  "Angel, I'm going home…I want to go home."  She took off at a faster walking pace as tears started to slip down her cheeks and then she took off at a run. _

            Angel took off after her and caught up to her quickly with his vampire speed and brought her down to the ground, pinning her down.  "Buffy, listen to me…just please hear me out."  He fought against Buffy's struggled, but he allowed her to shift as to where the ground was pressed at her back instead of her stomach.  He looked into her eyes and brushed loose pieces of hair off her face.  "You have to understand that I can't be with you like I want to be with you, Buffy.  I'm pretty sure that you know that yourself, but you're not showing it.  You have to face the facts."

            Buffy nodded and sniffled as she blinked back more tears.  "I know, and I'm being selfish about the whole thing.  You need your space, and I'm going to give it to you, no strings attached."  She used all of her strength and shoved him off her and stood up.  "I'm not going to accept anything though."  She wiped at her moist cheeks and made her way home before he could say anything else. 

            Buffy made her way over to her locker without a run into Xander or Willow at all.  She couldn't tell them about Angel, not yet at least.  She really didn't know if she could trust him yet, especially since he had come back from Hell.  She ran her fingers through her hair and let out a soft sigh as she opened her locker and pulled out the books to her first period class that she had with both Willow and Xander.  _To tell them, or not to tell them.  That is the question, Buffy thought to herself.  She made her way down the hallway that was cluttered with the students who usually made their way into class a minute or so before the bell rang announcing tardies.  She bumped into another senior and mumbled her apology and glanced up at the dirty blonde standing before her that she never had seen in her life at Sunnydale High.  "I really am sorry about bumping into you; I don't have all the screws in my head today."_

            The girl smiled and giggled softly.  "It's ok; I have those types of days myself."  She held out her hand to Buffy for a shake.  "I'm Cary…and I'm new here…do you think you could show me around during lunch?  Whenever that is at least, or, how about you tell me what your first period class is."

            Buffy held up her English book and smiled when Cary had the same class.  "How cool is that?  I'll save you a seat, ok?"  Buffy put a hand to her forehead and laughed.  "God…I did it again…my names Buffy."  She stepped into the classroom down the hall and took a seat and made sure Cary had a seat next to her.  

            Cary smiled as she watched the short pretty blonde girl head down the hallway to the classroom.  _Oh I'll have plans for you, and I'll find out what you are, Buffy.  I saw you last night in the graveyard stalking around like you knew the place like the back of your hand, Cary thought to herself.  _

            Buffy headed to lunch with Cary and waved at Xander as she spotted him just now heading into the Cafeteria.  She looked at Cary and smiled.  "You probably don't want to know him, but he's Xander.  He was the one sitting next to me in English, and Math…and Science…we're good friends."  She headed over to Xander and introduced Cary to Xander and then headed over to wait in the lunch line while she listened to Xander jabber the poor girl's ears off.  She shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair and glanced around for Willow and quickly spotted the red-head a few people in front of her.  Somehow, Willow seemed distant from her ever since yesterday, and even Oz was more distant then he usually was from her as well.  She drummed her fingers on her tray and couldn't help but wish she could use her slayer abilities to get the line to move quicker then it was currently going.  

            Cary watched Buffy closely as she half-listened to Xander talking.  She looked at Xander and gave him a sweet smile and looked him in the eyes until she felt like she had him in full control.  "Xander, would you mind being quiet?"  She looked away from him when he obeyed and rested a hand on her hip.  Now if only she could get Buffy under her control to achieve the last alignment of her plan to destroy Sunnydale and take it under her full control.  She bit her bottom lip and let her mind wander away from her current thoughts to Willow. _ Maybe I can get the wretched witch to do a spell for me to get Buffy to come to me faster, Cary thought to herself.  __This town is too simple and so helpful.  _

_            Buffy glanced over her shoulder at Cary and Xander and was surprised to see Xander doing a major zoning out session instead of talking.  She finally got to go sit at a table and was relieved when Willow came and sat down with her.  "Hey Willow, long time no talk, huh?"  She smiled at her best friend and took a drink of her Coke and shrugged when she didn't respond.  "Ok, what's the deal?  Is there something wrong with my hair or something?  Is my face horribly disfigured and you don't want to talk to me because you feel sorry for me?"  She tapped a perfectly manicured nail on the table and just decided to give up.  She looked up at Xander as he sat down.  "Xander, you have to talk to Willow here, you won't say a word."  She frowned when Xander didn't respond either.  "God, what is up with you two?"  She sighed heavily, stood, picked up her coke and headed out of the cafeteria quickly to go tell Giles what was up.  __Please let him be __able to talk…_

            Giles paced the library floor and glanced up at Buffy every now and then when she would give him a look.  "Buffy I've never heard of a case like this, except maybe the fact that they just really don't want to talk to you.  Maybe you did something that offended them in some way.  You do have a tendency to do that sometimes."  He jumped slightly when the swinging doors burst open and Faith stepped into the library with a puzzled look on her face.  

"You wouldn't believe this chick out in the hallway…she keeps on looking at people like they have a disease or something."  Faith shook her head and plopped down in a chair and propped her feet up on the table.  "She almost looked at me, but my speed thankfully got me away." 

Buffy looked at Faith and then at Giles.  "What did this 'chick' look like exactly?  It might be this new girl named Cary.  She did seem kind of…odd to me when I met her earlier."  

Faith bit her bottom lip as she tried to think of what she looked like.  "Well, she had dirty blonde hair down to her shoulders…and a crappy fashion sense…"  She shook her head and laughed.  "I mean, she had on high-water jeans and a tank top…where's the leather and the love?"

            Buffy perked up then and smiled.  "That's Cary alright…and she probably thinks I'm some dumb blonde, but haha!  I'm going to figure her out and crush her little hopes and dreams of taking over Sunnydale!"  Buffy slammed her hand down on the desk.  "Even if it kills me."

Buffy walked around the graveyard slowly and glanced over her shoulder to make sure Faith had her back covered.  "You really didn't have to come out here with me tonight, Faith.  I'm sure you'd rather be wishing you could dance around in the Bronze in your little outfits."  Buffy slipped a stake from the waistband of her jeans and gripped it in her hand as she scanned the area around her.  She felt like someone was watching her, making a note of her every move.  She held up a hand to stop Faith and gave her a motion of being ready for a fight.  Buffy could feel every muscle in her body tense when she heard a rustle in the bushes.  She stepped over to them and quickly reached her hand into them and pulled out whatever was watching her.  She let go of her grip and jumped back when it was Cary.  "God!  What are you?   You shouldn't be out here right now."  She drew her stake back and stuck it in her back pocket.  "If the graveyard keeper knew of you stalking around here like you're doing, you'd be dead."  She folded her arms over her chest and thought up an excuse for her own presence.  "My father works here anyways, and he told me to look around for lurkers and to me, you're lurking." 

Cary arched a brow and tried to make Buffy look into her eyes and sighed softly when she wouldn't meet her gaze.  "Look, Buffy…I was just here because I needed to visit my grandfather…he was buried here."  She pointed over to a gravestone and placed her hands on her hips.  "So do you have something to say about that?"

Buffy looked at the gravestone.  "He doesn't have the same last name as you, and you said when your mother got divorced, she made you change your last name to her maiden last name, which would be Shamus."

            Faith looked at Buffy and then at Cary.  "Buffy, give her a break.  Maybe she really did come here to visit her grandfather."  She winced when Buffy gave her the evil eye.  "Maybe she didn't then."  Faith looked over Cary's outfit in disgust and went and sat down on a tombstone and ran her fingers through her hair and watched the two bicker back and forth like two little old ladies.  Can't we just patrol for vampires and not for people that obviously are freaky?  She's probably just some wacko who can't get a boyfriend and who seriously needs to rethink her hair and clothes, Faith thought to herself.  She looked over her shoulder as a vamp tackled her from her perch.  "You guys aren't much for giving a girl a warning are you?"  She quickly pulled out her stake from her back pocket and slammed it into the back of the vampire and flipped up and took a fighting stance.  "Buffy!  We have serious company!" 

Cary took the opportunity to shove Buffy to the ground and take off at a sprint.  She ran until her lungs burned and until she was away from the graveyard.  _So you're the slayer then, Buffy?_

Buffy took her stake out from her pocket after she got up and watched Cary run off.  "Loser..."  She lunged into the vampire pack and spin kicked one to the ground.  "Where the hell did all of these guys come from?"  She staked one and didn't even bother to brush the ash from her pants.  

Faith shook her head and staked a vamp and then threw one over her shoulder, flipped behind him and staked him through the back.  "I don't know...I was hoping you would know…maybe Cary has something to do with it, especially if she turned Xander, Willow, and Oz to freaks."

"They aren't freaks, Faith…they just don't have verbal skills anymore."  She threw triple punches into the gut of vampire then round housed him and staked him.  "Faith I think we're outnumbered, there's just too many of them!"  She looked around her and panicked when she didn't see Faith.  "Faith!?"  She grunted when a vamp slammed her to the ground and pinned her.  "Get off me!"  She could just see her life flash before her eyes when he lowered his gaping jaws down to her neck.  She opened her eyes and saw Faith draw back her stake.  "What happened?"  She dusted herself off and quickly got up and looked at Faith again.

"Some asshole grabbed me and took me over to a bush…but then I got the upper stake into him."  She grabbed Buffy and took off running with her.  "We might as well take off now before they realize that we were outnumbered and they come after us or something."

"We have to get to Giles, Faith…as soon as we can."

"You think I don't know that, B?"

Cary snickered as she watched Buffy and Faith run by the alley she had been watching from.  "Oh yes, go to your Watcher and make him tell you the things you don't even want to know."


	3. Ch3

            Ch.3

            Buffy paced the library floor while Giles turned pages in his books.  "Can't you go any faster?  Sunnydale is at stake here and you're sipping your tea!  Get a hold of yourself, Giles."

            Giles looked at Buffy and shook his head.  "Shouldn't you be saying that back to yourself, Buffy?"  He glanced up when Faith emerged from the stacks with a couple of thick books in her hands.  "Did you find something, Faith?"

            Faith shrugged and dropped the books onto the table with a thud.  "The names of the books looked helpful, so I just grabbed them without even bothering to flip through the pages.  That would just be a waist of good time."  Faith watched Buffy pace the floor and smiled.  "Are you trying to get the school to have the library new tile, Buffy?"

            Buffy looked up from the floor and looked at Faith.  "Faith, why don't you help Giles look for…stuff…?"  She ran her fingers through her hair and then just finally put it up in a ponytail and sat up on the table.  She sighed heavily at the thought of her friends being currently disabled from her.  She really could use Willow right now so she could talk to her about Angel, but she couldn't.  She jumped slightly when Giles tapped her on the shoulder and showed her a picture of a ghastly demon in a fading book.  "What is that thing?  I've never seen anything like that in my whole slaying career."  

            Giles read her the description of the demon slowly and then sighed.  "Buffy, if the demon gets so far ahead, he or she can paralyze you just with a glance."

            "Like the Judge could do?" Buffy asked.

            Giles shook his head and closed the book and headed back into the stacks to return it to its proper place without answering Buffy's question.  

            Buffy went after him and stopped him before he could even get up the steps.  "Giles tell me what you read…please?  I need to know what I'm up against, or I truly will be paralyzed without the look."

            "Buffy…it can kill you with that one look as well…"

            Faith sat up fully and looked at Giles.  "If Buffy gets harmed, then I could take her place, no?"

            Giles looked away from Buffy's shocked face and looked at Faith.  Giles shook his head.  "If this demon gets to one slayer, every slayer, and slayers soon to be will be killed altogether.  If Buffy, or you, Faith, are harmed, we have no hope."  Giles headed up the stairs to the stacks to return the book to its proper place. 

            Buffy shook her head and sighed heavily.  "Then all I have to do is fight her without looking into her eyes, right?"

            Faith looked at Buffy and shook her head.  "B, do you always think things are just going to be so simple?  Just because you think if you don't look her in the eye you'll be all handy dandy, doesn't mean she won't find a way to kill you," Faith said plainly.

            Giles stepped down the stairs and looked at Buffy.  "Faith has a point, Buffy…I would hate to agree to such a thing because I'm your Watcher, but I fear we may not be able to defeat the Hell mouth's new guest."

            Buffy grabbed her jacket and quickly put it on and looked furiously at Giles.  "I'm the slayer, Giles…end of story."  She turned on her heel and headed towards the library doors, shoved them open, and made her way out into the halls of the high school then made her way out of the school altogether.

            Faith looked at Giles and gave him a thumb up.  "Nice going, G-man."

                        "Go home, Faith," Giles said in a stern voice.

            Buffy found herself wandering around town, hoping to find a familiar face, but found none.  She sighed heavily and stuck her hands in her jacket pockets. _ This is just great…I'm supposed to be the winner of evil battles, and I don't even know how to defeat one single problem, Buffy thought to herself.  She jumped slightly when she heard a crash behind her.  She took a glance over her shoulder and was thankful that she did when she saw a vampire lurking behind her.  She smiled and turned to face him.  "You must be a newbie at this…it's really simple to understand.  I'm the slayer, and well, you're not."  She drew out her handy Mr. Pointy and shoved it into the vampire's chest even before he knew what hit him.  "What a crying shame, really, I can see it now.  I was hoping for a real fight, but whatever floats your boat."  She arched a brow when a demon took the dusted vampires place.  "Ok, now we're talkin'."  She took up a fighter's stance and flipped her hair over her shoulder and ducked a slow punch.  "Ok, maybe not…"  She slammed her foot into the demon's stomach and grimaced when it went right through it.  "These are my new shoes!"  She managed to get her foot out and she shook the goop off her boot and then snapped the demon's thin neck.  "You never should have walked on my slayer ground."  She turned around again and couldn't help but gasp at seeing Angel standing right before her.  "Geez, you scared me, Angel."  She smiled sweetly at him and tucked her stake back into the waistband of her jeans and looked back at her ancient lover._

            "Buffy, Giles sent me out looking for you.  He's worried about you now…he went over to your house and found you mom."

            Buffy's smile quickly faded at hearing his news.  "My mom?  Well of course he's going to find my mother at my house…she's the big ol' house mom."  Panic was stricken on her face, and she could feel her muscles tense.

            Angel shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair.  "He found her in the same state that Xander, Willow, and Cordelia are in…"

            Buffy's jaw dropped and she shook her head.  "No…it can't be true…it can't be!"  She bit her bottom lip and then shook her head and looked back at him.  "Angel…how?  Cary doesn't even know where I live…"

            Angel placed a hand on her shoulder and winced slightly when she flinched.  He drew his hand back and shrugged his shoulders.  "Buffy I'm not sure, but all I can tell you is that you need to find out where she lives herself."  

            "Oh you're really a lot of help, Angel.  As if I didn't know that I needed to find out where she lives?"  She stepped past him and started walking again.  She knew that she had to quit snapping at him like she had been doing recently, but it was so strange having him back like he was.  She didn't know how she was going to handle things.  _Maybe it'll be Karma or luck…she thought to her own self._

            Faith looked up when she heard a knock on her apartment door.  She didn't move and she felt like she wasn't even breathing.  She reached a hand back slowly and picked up her stake and then jumped up when the door crashed open.  "Cary…what a true surprise, and, by the way, you're not welcome here.  However, you're just the chick I want to bring that can of whoop ass out on."  She averted her gaze to the floor and rolled her eyes when she saw Cary take a step towards her from the corner of her eye.

            "Do you or Buffy ever shut up?  I mean, really…all Buffy does is yap, and all you do is try to be all macho.  It's not working, Faith."  She back handed her and smiled when she heard a satisfying crack.  She leaned down and picked Faith up by the neck and shook her slightly.  "I heard a secret, Faith.  Do you want to know what it is?  Well of course you do."  She threw Faith onto the bed and placed her hands behind her back.  "Someone told me, that if I looked into the slayer's eye, I could destroy all the slayers to be….forever.  Do you know how much that made my day?  She smiled again and picked Faith up again and slammed her up against the wall.  "Now dearie, I know you won't cooperate with me right off the start, but I know you will when you start to feel the pain."  She kneed Faith over and over and then dropped her to the floor.  

            "Get the hell away from her, Cary.  She's not the one you want to mess with."  Buffy stood behind Cary with her arms folded over her chest.  "But then again, you probably don't want to mess with me either.  Once you hurt my friends, and my *mother* you're on my turf, Cary.  You're no longer just an enemy; you're a threat to society.  This is war now."

            Cary turned and looked Buffy right in the eye and smiled.  "That's too bad, because now you're going to be mine, my little slayer slave.  Faith here, will probably be dead soon, because she won't be able to manage all the things that I need her to do."  She nodded towards the door.  "Look whose come to make you the main entrée, Buffy."

            Buffy looked over her shoulder and jumped back at seeing Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and her mother all step into the apartment.  She shook her head and then took out her reaper.  "Look, Cary, we can do this the hard way, or the hard way."  She looked at her mother who was advancing towards her.  "Mom, please, there has to be some of you still in there…I'm your daughter…"  She shoved past the angry group of her once friends, picked Faith up carefully and took a run out of the room.

            "Buffy, just let me down…I'm already healing…" She was running beside Buffy in the instance that Buffy set her down.  She looked at the reaper in her friend's hand.  "Where'd you pick that baby up at?"

            Buffy looked at Faith and then at the reaper.  "Um, I kindave borrowed it from Giles, yea, that's it."

            "So he just let you get up and leave with it?"

            "Actually, I just walked out with it before he could say anything; so, well…I guess I didn't really 'borrow' it…"

            Faith laughed and then winced.  "Ok, remind me not to laugh, ok?"  Faith looked over her shoulder and gasped.  "Buffy, how well do you know how to use that thing?  Cary is like right behind us now."

            Buffy looked at Faith and then stopped running and nodded at Faith.  "Faith, you have to get to Giles…promise me you won't stop running until you've gotten to him."

            Faith shook her head.  "Buffy I just can't ditch you like this…it's not fair and it's not right."

            "I don't care what's fair or right.  You're hurt, and I'm not going to risk you getting hurt…just go!"  Buffy watched Faith run off with a nod and then turned back to face Cary.  "Alright, Cary, it's you and me."

            "Just what I was waiting for, Buffy, the time to kick your ass and be happy with it.  Faith was wise with running off like a coward like that and everything."  

            Buffy took off running at Cary and leaped at her and flipped into the air and came down with a power kick to Cary's face.  "Faith was the wise one because she's going to get to Giles while I'm here kicking your ass."  She spun the reaper and sliced into Cary's arm.  "Now then, Cary, tell me how you're going to beat this good buddy of mine."

            Cary advanced on Buffy and slammed her body into her.  "Very easy really.  You see, I can heal just like you, except at a faster pace."  She showed Buffy her arm and nodded.  "How do you think I passed as a high school student?  Sure it wasn't easy, but it all worked out."  She punched Buffy in the stomach and then took a step back.  "You see, I met you and I knew something was odd about you right from the start.  When you introduced me to Xander and Cordelia, I knew they were antsy about something as well."  She walked around in a circle around Buffy and watched the reaper in Buffy's hands.  "Willow came up to me in class and asked if I needed any help with anything at all.  I sensed her witch power, and I had to have her for my collection.  I quickly got your friends turned, and even some of the faculty.  I followed you home one night, and watched everything from your front lawn.  You didn't even notice me, what a careless slayer.  She 'tsked' 'tsked' at Buffy and then stopped circling around her.  "I would have gotten to Faith, but you had to come ruin everything like the slayer bitch you are."

            Buffy had listened to every word that Cary said, and she truly knew what she was messing with now.  "So then what you're saying is that you have the ability to tell, or sense what a person is?  If they're the average day Jo, or a witch?  Man, only a true freak could be someone like that."  Buffy jumped kicked Cary to the ground and placed her foot to her throat.  "You want to know my little secret now?  I figured out on my own how to kill you.  I didn't need my Watcher, or my friends.  I'm my own slayer, Cary, and you can't stop me once you have this girl going."  She thrust the end of the reaper into Cary's stomach and listened to the shrill scream come from Cary's body.  "Music to my ears once I think about it."  She looked down at Cary and smiled.  "Your true heart was in your stomach, not your chest."  She smiled and looked up as Cary's ashes blew away with the swift wind.  "I feel like a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders."

            Faith looked up at Buffy when she stepped into the library.  "So did you kill her then?"  She was currently tending to her wounds and trying to keep her eye on the Scooby Gang as well.  "They came back to about fifteen minutes ago or so, and then just passed out…it looks to me like she got to Giles as well."  She motioned to Giles body lying on the floor.  She smiled at Buffy.  "Your mom is doing ok, just so you know."

            Buffy nodded and plopped down at the table across from Faith after returning the reaper to its proper place.  She blew a loose lock of hair from her face and then looked at Faith.  "Cary's gone now, but I still feel like something is still wrong, y'know?  I just can't really place my finger on what it is right at the moment…"  She looked at Faith and then leaned forward slightly to examine her wounds.  "You don't look so bad, Faith.  She laughed when Faith rolled her eyes and shook her head.  "Remember though, you can't laugh."  She stuck her tongue out at her and then leaned back in her chair and looked at her mother.

            "I wonder if they'll remember anything that happened, or if they'll just have the memories or what happened before they were turned into living zombie freaks."  She looked at Buffy and watched her as she stood and stepped over to her mother.  "Buffy, she's going to be find, I promise you."  She stood as well and tossed the icepack onto the table and stepped beside Buffy.  "The only problem they might have is a bump on the head from where I had to punch them to knock them out…if I hadn't of done that, then they all wouldn't be laying there all nice and neat like they are now."  She looked at Buffy and gave her a smile.

            "Ok, well, I can understand if you just wanted to punch Cordelia just for the hell of it though.  I know I would." 


	4. Ch4

Ch. 4

            Buffy woke up the next morning to find Willow standing over her.  She sat up and looked up at her.  "Ok, just so you know…I wasn't the one who gave you that bump on the head, Faith did it."

            Willow smiled and sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Buffy.  "I know…I kinda figured that maybe I had it coming from Faith…I didn't like her before, but now I hold a hateful grudge against her.  Now then that we've got that figured out, Xander wanted me to tell you that he needed to talk to you about something.  He said it was "urgent and important" that I tell you to meet him at the Expresso Pump at 2:00."

            "What!?  It's 1:30 right now!" she said in a rush.  Buffy leapt out of the bed and rushed over to her closet, pulled out a pair of jeans and a top and quickly changed and sprayed on perfume.  She brushed her hair and put it up in a clip, put on a pair of boots and looked at Will.  "I'll call you later, Willow."  She headed out of her room and downstairs and saw her mother on the couch.  "Mom, can you do me a huge favor and drop me off at the Expresso Pump?  Xander wants me to meet him there and 2:00 and it's now 1:35…," Buffy said as she stepped over to her mom.  "Mom?  Earth to mom…."  She took a full look at her mom and gasped.  "Willow! Willow!  You have to get down here now!" she called frantically to her best friend.  She picked up the phone and called 911.  "Mom…please wake up…"  She shook her gently and then talked in the receiver to the operator to have an ambulance come to the house.  "No…I don't know what's wrong with her…she just won't wake up…please, hurry with the ambulance…"  Buffy hung up the phone and set it down and looked at the clock and then back at her mother.  "Crap…Xander…"  She looked at Willow and shook her head.  "I hate to do this, but can you look after her?"  She ran out the door and down the street, hoping she'd be on time to meet Xander and make it over to the hospital.

            Xander looked around him and drummed a finger on the table and glanced at his watch.  _Willow__ had better of told Buffy about meeting me here…I really do need to get this info out of my system…he thought.  He was relieved when he saw Buffy coming down the street.  He arched a brow slightly when she stopped at his table.  "Is your mom alright?  That's what I wanted to talk to you about."_

            Buffy looked at him and sat down at the table, stealing a drink of his Mocha.  "What do you need to tell me?  I really need to get over to the hospital…"  She let her hair down, ran her fingers through it and then put it back up into a clip.

            "I went over to see Giles, right?  Well, when I knocked on the door, no one answered. So I tried the door, and I found that it was unlocked.  I went inside, looked around for Giles…and all I found was this scribble on a piece of paper."  He held it out to Buffy and sighed when he saw the look on her face.  "It has to deal with your mom, Buffy."

            She looked at him and shook her head.  "No…my mother is fine…she isn't going to die…"  She tossed the piece of paper on the table and stood.  She shook her head again.  "She's going to be fine…Faith even said so, Xander…"  She walked away from him without even saying a goodbye.

            Buffy headed into the hospital and stepped over to the front desk.  "What room is Joyce Summers in?  I'm her daughter, and I just wanted to see her…"  Before she came over, she had showered and changed clothes.  She felt better about that, but had the crummy feeling in her stomach now at thinking of her mother being hurt.  She smiled and thanked the nurse when she told her the room number and headed down the hallway to the room.  She still had the note's contents still running through her mind.  _The chosen one shall have a loss, more than an enemy and friend.  Buffy stepped into the room and sat down in a chair and looked at her mother.  __There's no way that stupid note has to deal with my mother…not my mother…she thought.  She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed heavily and curled her feet underneath herself and looked back at her mom.  __She can't die…she's my mom, my savior…she's all that I have now, all that I'll ever have.  If she dies, who will I talk to?  I'll never hear her voice again; never see her again…How will I hear her say that we should bond?  She always wants to bond…she even came to see me when I was out slaying once…she cares about me that much, as I care about her…she thought sadly.  She jumped slightly when a nurse can in to check on Joyce and wiped a stray tear from her cheek and watched the nurse.  She looked away when she caught her eye and focused on an ugly painting in the room and sighed again.  She closed her eyes and then opened them.  She stood quickly at not seeing her mother in the hospital bed anymore.  She stepped out into the hallway and looked up and down it.  "What the hell?" she said softly as she even went as far as glancing in the other rooms.  She went back into her mother's room and arched a brow at seeing an elderly woman that looked much like her mother in the bed.  She softly called her name and stepped over the bed and blinked a couple of times when Joyce went back to her original, young state.  "This so needs looking up on..."_

            Faith quickly walked into the hospital and over into Joyce's room and took a step back at seeing the elderly lady.  "Buffy I um, I think you have the wrong room."  Her jaw dropped slightly when she saw the woman change to a younger age right before her eyes.  Her immediate response to the weird happening was, "Have you called Giles?"

            Buffy nodded and looked at Faith.  "He's not home…I've called him a couple of times now."  She stood and looked fully at Faith.  "I don't know what's wrong with her, Faith…when I went to see Xander, he showed me this note that said I would lose something…more than an enemy and friend.  I didn't know what it meant at first, but Xander said it had to deal with my mom…"

            "When did you go and see Xander?"

            "After I found my mom.  That's when I told…Xander.  How did he…know?" Buffy said as she looked away from Faith.

            "That's what I'm saying, B.  If you told him *after* you even knew about it, I don't get how he got the scoop on things before you."

            "I think I need to pay a visit to Giles' apartment.  Want to come?  I can't stay in here much longer…the whole changy-thingy is giving me the wiggins."

            Buffy kicked in the door to Giles' place when no one answered the door when she knocked.  "I've had to do that like three times now."  She stepped over the threshold and looked at Faith.  "Why don't you look upstairs?  I'll look down here and call to ya if I find anything that's worth taking a look at."

            Faith nodded and made her way over to the stairs and up.  She stopped a few steps up and looked at Buffy   "Did Xander say where he found that note?"

            Buffy shook her head and looked at Faith.  "I would assume he found it down here, but I could be wrong."  She gave Faith a smile and went back to the snooping around.  "Y'know, I can't help but feel like a Slayer robber, and we're about to go on the lam or something."

            Faith smirked and laughed.  "That would be amusing.  Today on the news, two young women robbed a British man of his Whiskey and fled the scene with odd pieces of wood in their hands."

            Buffy laughed and looked back at Faith and showed her a Whiskey bottle she had just picked up.  "How appropriate, right?"

            Faith nodded and headed up the stairs to start her search.

            Buffy called to Faith and looked at the Slayer when she came down the stairs.  "I didn't find anything…did you?"

            "Well if you consider knowing his pant size anything useful…maybe for a Christmas gift you could buy him some new pants or something…"  She stepped out of the house and looked at Buffy.  "C'mon, B…nothing important here to look at."

            Buffy nodded, sighed and headed out of the house and closed the pathetic door.  "I just wish I knew where to look."  She looked at Faith and smiled when they both said 'Willy' in unison.  

Buffy gave Faith a high-five when they made it out of Willy's Tavern.  "We so kicked his butt, don't you think?"

Faith nodded and looked at Buffy.  "I hope the information he gave us is going to help us figure things out though.  We have to do this without Giles, Buffy…I hope you know that."

"Of course I know…how could I not know that?  My Watcher is M.I.A.  End of story.  Hell will freeze over when I finally ask Wesley to help me on something, so he's just out of luck." 

"I could ask him for help though…he is supposed to be my Watcher, even though I hate him more than I do a good vamp."

Buffy laughed and started walking, leaving Faith behind.  "Nah, I think we can deal, Faith."  She did know who she *could* ask for help though, and his name was just something that she needed.

"Angel?" she said softly as she headed into his mansion.  She looked around and spotted him in his room.  "Angel I need your help…you have to, well you don't have to…but I really just need your help."

Angel looked at Buffy over his shoulder and gave her a smile.  "Let me guess…some new force is trying to terrorize you and Faith again?  I thought Cary was bad enough."

Buffy smiled and went and sat on his bed and looked up at him.  "It's my mom…I don't know what's wrong with her, and Giles is missing.  Xander also has something going on too."

Angel looked at her and sat down next to her.  "I always knew that Xander had something wrong with him."  He sighed softly when that didn't bring a smile to her face.  "Ok, sorry…I shouldn't have said that."

Buffy waved his apology off with a hand motion and stood and paced.  "You're really my last hope.  I hope you know that."

Angel sighed again when she stood and watched her pace. "Why do I always end up hearing that from you?"

"I'm not so sure why exactly…you just always are…I can always trust and depend on you."  She looked at him.  "Well, except for last year, but like that will ever happen again."  She saw a flicker of pain in his eyes and stopped pacing.  "Angel, I'm sorry.  I didn't mean anything by that, I was just saying…"

Angel stood and headed into the living room.  "So what information have you got?"

Buffy watched him go, mentally cursed herself and then followed after him.  "Ok, well, my mom does this god awful age switch…Xander gave me this creepy note that said I would lose something, more than an enemy and friend…and Giles is M.I.A.  Enough said right there I believe." 

Angel nodded and looked at her.  "I haven't heard anything on the streets about anything…did you try Willy?"

Buffy's eyes brightened and she smiled.  "Oh yeah.  Faith and I kicked his ass.  But um, he said that something was going around…something he had never heard of.  For a few more hits, he said to talk to some demon that goes by the name of 'Blues'.  To me, that's just a sissy name for a demon."

Angel's eyes widened slightly.  "Blues?  He's not something you want to mess with exactly.  I came up against him in a fight about a hundred years ago…he about killed me, Buffy."

"So I take it that he's a stronger type of nasty then?  All we have to do is go three against one.  Faith, me, and you."

Angel shook his head.  "You don't get it.  He's not just one demon, he's…well…a lot them put into one.  He has the ability to become whatever he wants to."

            Buffy softly said "Oh" and then sat on the couch and sighed.  "This really just has not been my day to tell you the truth…my life has to suck so bad…wait, it does suck.  Why can't I just go back to being the pretty, popular cheerleader?'

            "Look, Buffy…I shouldn't have told you about the demon.  You have a lot of pressure on you right now, and you don't need to worry about another Hell mouth problem."

            Buffy stood and looked him in the eye.  "So are you going to help me or not?"

            "I really think that you should do this on your own.  I won't always be there for you when you don't know who to turn to."

            Buffy headed towards the door and threw back at him, "All you had to do was say no."

Faith tensed slightly when she heard the knock on her door.  She didn't want it to end up being some new Cary or anything coming to finish her off for good.  "Who is it?"

            "It's me, Faith…just good ol', reliable Buffy with crappy news."  She stuck her hands in her jacket pockets and looked at Faith when she opened the door.  "It seems as though Blues is going to be unbeatable…even with the both of us going against it at the same time.  He can turn into any demon he wants to…sound like a hell of a fight to you?."

            "Sounds to me like it's just another bug on the floor that needs to be squished."

            Buffy smiled and shrugged.  "Maybe with some good persuasion like Willy said, we won't have to fight him.  We just have to keep him from getting suspicious about what we're doing."

            "How do we do that exactly?  Keep a cute smile on our face and have an innocent gleam in our eyes?  It's going to be impossible to convince a demon that we just want your mom to be ok again."

            "You're not making things any easier, Faith."

            "Buffy it's the truth.  Do you want me to lie to you and say that we can just waltz in their and save our hides?"

            "All I want is to get my mom better and not have to worry about some demon named after music genera, ok?"

            "Well don't go telling your gospel truth to me, B.  I'm not going to listen to it."  She leaned against the doorway and looked at her.  "Do you know where we can find this guy?"

            Buffy gave Faith a look then lowered her defenses and shrugged.  "Maybe in the sewers?  That's my best guess."

            Faith shuddered at the thought of having to return to the sewers.  "That sucks…the last time we were down there, some rabid rat tried to get me."

            "The rat wasn't rabid, you were just freaking out.  I thought you were supposed to be some strong chick that uses the first letters of people's names."

            Faith rolled her eyes and stepped aside to let Buffy in.  "Why don't we just forget about the stupid rat and the nasty sewers and talk about an attack plan…well, a negotiation plan to be exact."

            Buffy sat down in a chair and nodded.  "Now we're talking."


	5. Ch5

Ch. 5

"Ok, Faith…tell me what you've thought of so far.  I'm all out of things to think of…it basically sucks."  She looked at her Slayer friend with a smile and lay back on the bed.

            Faith shrugged and sighed heavily.  "I'm not really sure on what to either, B.  I'm stuck on this whole demon thing, and I just think we should rush him when he least expects an attack."

            Buffy laughed and shook her head.  "You're always pumped for battle, I'll give you that, but we just can't go in there and think we can defeat him.  It would be a shot in the dark if we even thought of doing that.  I think if Giles were here, he would want us to research this Blues and be prepared as best we could."

            "Giles isn't here though, and we're Slayers, Buffy…not the bookworms."  Faith stood from her bed and ran her fingers through her hair and looked back at Buffy.  "Why don't we split up and meet at Blues' place at nightfall?"

            "Faith I don't think that's the wisest thing to do on our part."

            "No, B.  Don't you go and tell me what's wrong and right.  If you're not going to meet me there at night, then I'll face the bitch on my own, even if I die."

            _I can't believe we're going to face this guy when we don't know anything about it.  Faith is in way over her head this time…even though I hate to admit to that.  She seems to have her on and off moments, and I'm not used to that, Buffy thought to herself.  She sighed heavily and glanced at the slip of paper in her hand.  "Where the heck is this place?"  She looked up at a street sign and then back down at the slip of paper, shrugged and headed down the street.  "Looks like it to me…hopefully."  _

            Faith straightened up when she saw Buffy coming down the street and waved her over.  "Glad you found the place.  It took me forever to find it myself."  She stuck her hands in her pockets and looked at Buffy.

            "I'm still not sure that we should be doing this tonight, but whatever it takes to keep my mom alive and well."  She pulled a stake from her back pocket and tossed it to Faith as she pulled out her battle axe.  "I hope you came as prepared as I did, Faith."  

            Faith smirked then snickered softly and pulled out her own axe and pocketed the stake Buffy had given her.  "Me not coming prepared?  When hell freezes over, B."  She glanced over their surroundings and jumped to the side when a vamp advanced on them.  "Way too easy."  She took an easy swing of the axe and beheaded the vamp before he could take a step forward.  "That's so unfair, it's almost fair."

            Buffy arched a brow and placed a hand on her hip.  "Can you at least let me in on the action every now and then, Faith?  Please?"  She stepped around Faith and headed into the abandoned factory and looked over her shoulder at Faith.  "Come on then."

            Giles paced the library floor and looked at the clock and then over at the Scooby Gang sitting at the table and talking over their day's events.  He took off his glasses, cleaned them then placed them back on the bridge of his nose and stepped into his office and looked at the clock in there.  He shook his head and looked down at the open book that showed the picture of the demon Buffy was probably fighting at the moment.  Buffy had left to go hunt down both Faith and then building the demon supposedly lived in, but that was over four hours ago.  He stepped back out into the library and stepped over to the table and looked down at everyone.  "Am I the only one worried about Buffy and Faith at this point?"

            Xander looked up at Giles, shook his head and smiled slightly.  "Of course not, G-man, we're just trying to get our minds off the fact that Buffy and Faith could both be dead somewhere and-…"

            Willow gave Xander a look to cut him off from continuing his sentence then looked at Giles.  "I'm sure Buffy and Faith are perfectly fine.  They are the Slayers…the chosen two.  Isn't there supposed to be the Chosen One though?  Drusilla just had to go and mess up the whole thing."

            Giles tapped a finger on the table to get the group to hush.  "Why did I even bother in asking?"

            Cordelia smiled and sat up slightly.  "Could it be because you have nothing better to do except worry about big bad Buffy and Faith?  Buffy just might be Miss Save the World, but Faith is too, so stop worrying about them.  Besides, it's not like Buffy would be a great loss to the social world of Sunnydale."

            Xander rolled his eyes at Cordeila's voice in the subject and slumped down in his chair slightly.  "Cordy, not everything revolves around you and the little 'Cordette' group or whatever."

            Willow nodded and gave Xander a pat on the shoulder.  "I agree with what Xander is saying all the way."  She glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed softly.  "I'm sorry, but I really need to scoot.  My mom probably wanted me home over three hours ago."  She stood, grabbed her book and smiled slightly at Xander.  "I also need to update Oz on the whole situation as well.  He wasn't able to come because of his gig at the Bronze."

            Xander nodded, glanced around the room and bit his bottom lip slightly.  He had to admit to himself sometime that he was in fact jealous of Oz and Willow at times.  His relationship with Cordelia could be complicated to him, and he sometimes had to wonder why he even bothered with her.  _Oh wait, I know why I do.  It's only because she's pretty and popular…did I say hot?  Ok, now I did.  Why do I always think about sex?  Xander thought to himself.  He watched Willow leave the room then looked up at Buffy and Faith.  "Hey!"_

            Buffy finished filling Giles in on everything that had happened with her, Faith, and the demon.  She ran her fingers through her goo filled hair and grimaced.  She looked over at Giles after everyone else had left the room to go home.  "So tell me, Giles, where were you this whole time?  Xander, Faith, and I all went to your place…you weren't there…I needed your help, Giles.  You're supposed to be there for me, to give me a guiding hand in things."

            Giles looked down, sighed softly and looked back at Buffy.  "I went to find Ethan…he has something to do with your mother.  The only problem with Ethan is the fact that I wasn't able to find him."

            "You have to be kidding me, Giles!  The whole time you were making us worry about you, you didn't come up with squat!?  Faith and I almost died tonight, Giles!  We put our life on the line because you weren't there for us!"

            "Don't you go talking about not being there for someone, Buffy.  You had the opportunity to ask for Wesley's help, and you didn't.  You have no right to put the blame on me!"

            "Like I was just going to go and *ask* Wesley for something?  That's just bull crap it's not even funny!  I would rather see him as Willy then as my own Watcher.  Faith hates him even more than I do, so go yelling at her!"  She stormed out of the library, grabbed Faith and practically dragged her out of the school and down the street.  "Giles is back," she said bluntly.

            The next morning, Buffy stayed home from school to watch over her mother in the hospital.  She had asked Willow to cover for her at school, so she knew she was clear in that area.  She slumped down in her chair and ran her fingers through her hair as she thought over about what Giles said last night.  _Ethan is just something you can't seem to get rid of.  He's like a relative from Hell or something.  He's been around since my junior year in high school…I thought that maybe since I was going to be the big bad senior, he wouldn't be a problem for me, but now he's stepped onto my personal turf.  He's messing with my mother, the one I love.  If at any time I do see him, he is going to get a personal round of me punching him in the face…_Buffy thought to herself.  She stood, sighed and stepped out of the room to wander around the hospital.  A few hours later, she found herself standing in front of a Coke machine trying to decide on what she wanted to drink.  _I guess I'll go with a Diet Dr. Pepper…it's either that or Dr. Pepper…what's the difference anyways?  Oh yeah, no calories…_she thought to herself.  She pushed the button and waited on the machine to drop the can.  She sighed heavily and ran her fingers through her hair: "Hurry up…I don't have all day to wait out here on some drink…"  She looked around her, and arched a brow slightly at an elderly man watching her.  "Eeek…,' she said softly to herself.  She quickly grabbed the can up once it dropped, turned and walked quickly down the hallway to return to her mother's room.  She glanced over her shoulder, shrugged at not seeing the old man and stepped into her mother's room.  "What a creep…"  She plopped back down into her chair and took a sip of her Diet Dr. Pepper and glanced around the room.  "No wonder I hate hospitals so much…they give me the wiggins"  She rolled her eyes as her talking to herself, shrugged it off and looked out the window.

            "Xander, don't we have something better to do than to sit around here and look at old, dirty, musty books?" Cordelia whined to her boyfriend.  "Right now, I *could* be getting me hair and nails done, but you made me come here.  I want to know why."

            Xander closed the book he was looking at and looked over at Cordelia.  "You want to know I made you come here?  I thought that maybe, just maybe, you would be of some help…but I guess I was more than wrong in that."  He opened up another book and shoved one in front of her.  "You can at least look like you're helping…"

            Willow stepped into the library with Oz at her side.  "Hey, guys, I thought you might need a couple extra hands in the looking up stuff department…or maybe I could hack into something?"  She stepped over to the computer area, sat down and turned on the computer.  She took a glance over at Cordelia and mentally shook her head.  _Why does she even bother? _She looked up at Xander, gave him a smile and a shrug.  "Oh, have you heard from Buffy?"

            Xander looked at Willow, shook his head, and returned to his book.  He stood when Cordelia made a comment about Buffy and slammed his book closed.  "I'm taking a break."  He practically stormed out of the library before anyone could even ask a question.

            "Bummer…," Oz said softly.

            "I blame it on Cordelia, but you didn't ask…," Willow said aloud.  

            Faith sat down next to Buffy and sighed softly.  "Hey, B…"  She looked over at Joyce, bit her bottom lip slightly and looked back at Buffy.  "Do you um…want to go patrolling?  It's half-past ten as we speak."

            Buffy looked at Faith, shook her head and looked back at her mother.  "You can patrol without me tonight…or, you can round up the Scoobs…either way, I don't really care"

            "C'mon, Buffy…there's no need to be a bump on a log…I know your mom is sick right now, but maybe you should get some fresh air or something."

            "You just don't get it, do you?  You've never had to go through a heartache like this…you've been through nothing like this, Faith."

            "So you think I don't care?  Is that it?  If only you knew, B…if only you knew."  She stood, shoved the chair back and stepped out of the room.  She headed down the hallway and stopped in her tracks when an old man stopped in front of her.  "Move it or lose it, Gramps…"  

            Buffy ran after Faith, stopped beside her and stared at the old man with a curious look.  "Hey, I know you.  I saw you earlier when I was getting my coke."  She folded her arms over her chest and looked at Faith.  "Maybe you should get his number, Faith."

            Faith rolled her eyes and looked at Buffy and then back at the old man.  "This is a waste of time."  She stepped around the man, took Buffy by the arm and dragged her behind her.  "That's just creepy"

            "Ok, so now you know how I felt when I saw him watching me."  She loosened her arm from Faith's grip and walked beside her.  "Maybe you're right about the fresh air thing, and I'm sorry for snapping at you."

            "Hey, don't worry about it.  When you're someone like me, you get used to people shoving you off and everything."

            "Did I really shove you off?  Now I'm really, really sorry."

            "B, I said not to worry about it."

            "Little old man…who's to think I'm a little old man?"  He watched Faith and Buffy walk out of the hospital and returned to Joyce Summer's room where he had been earlier in the day.  "They'll soon learn I'm also not a waste of time."  He stripped off his face to reveal his true demon form.  

            Buffy tossed her stake in the air and caught it.  "Is it just me, or does it seem awfully bare tonight?  I haven't seen a vamp during this whole time period."

            "May I remind you that we've only been out for about an hour?  Besides, we've only covered the park, and not many vamps hang around there that much."

            "Hm, I guess you're right.  Maybe we should cover the graveyard and call it a night.  I just want to head home and get a good rest before I have to go to school tomorrow.  Willow had to cover for me today, and I'm sure she just the teacher's I was sick or something."

            "Now I really do know why I dropped out of school.  I sometimes think about going back, and then I remember all the crappy teachers I had when I did go."

            "What does help to get a girl through the day is knowing that cute guys go to school too."

            "That's about the only thing that would ever get me to go back.  I have to admit though that that Scott guy you were dating was pretty damn cute.  I cannot forget the fact that he cheated on you though.  Stupid asshole."

            Buffy sighed softly and looked ahead of her.  _Scott was when I didn't have to hide Angel from everyone.  Scott was when Angel wasn't even around to test me.  Scott was when I was actually happy for once…_

            "Ya there?  I thought I lost you for a moment."

            "Huh?  Oh, um, yeah…I was just thinking about what you said about Scott…"

            "Crap, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to bring him up when you're already in a down mood…I'm sorry, B."

            Buffy waved her hand to brush the subject away.  "Don't worry about it…at least we have it behind us now."  Buffy whipped around, smiled and looked at Faith.  "Just look who's behind us now."

            Faith turned, pulled out her stake and smiled as well.  "They just look like they need a good can of whoop-ass brought out on them, and I also just need to get my juices flowing.  These vamps are going to be dust before they can say dawn."  She ran over to them with Buffy, stake at her side. 

            ****


	6. Ch6

Ch. 6

            The next morning Buffy made sure she was on time to get to her classes so she could make it look like she actually cared.  Even though she came on time, nothing stopped her from doodling in one of her notebooks.  After writing a small note to Willow, she finally looked up at her math teacher and sighed softly.

Buffy stood when the bell rang thirty minutes later and waited on Willow.  "I'm wiggin' about something, Willow.  I think something bad is going to happen."

            Xander stepped over to them and looked at Buffy.  "Please tell me we don't have a math test tomorrow because that would be my worst nightmare."

            "Why should it be?  You never study for them anyways," Willow shot back at him.

            Buffy cut Xander off from saying something back to that and headed to her locker with them.  "I ran into this old man at the hospital last night and he just seemed…out of place to me for some reason.  Faith saw him too, but I don't think she caught onto anything like I did.  If he's still there, I hope my mom is ok."

            Willow looked at her best friend and sighed softly.  "Do you think maybe he has control over what's happening to your mom?  It would make sense about what's been happening to her."

            Buffy pondered over what Willow suggested, then nodded.  "Willow, I think you have a perfect point.  I'm going to skip gym and go fetch Faith so we can go to the hospital and see if he's still there."

            Faith jumped slightly when she heard a rap on her door.  "Who is it?"  She stood and stepped over to the door, then opened it when she heard Buffy's voice.  "I think I've had an influence on you or something, B.  You never skip classes this many times in a row."

            Buffy smiled then looked at her.  "I think I have a lead about what's going on with my mom…it might have to do with that old man from last night."  

            Faith rolled her eyes.  "I knew he had to be a total creep from the moment I saw him."  She put on her jacket and placed a stake in the pocket at the inside of her jacket.  "If he's not at the hospital, what're we going to do then?"

            Buffy bluntly said.  "Hunt him down."

            Willow looked around the gym, and then glanced at where Buffy usually stood at her side.  She looked towards the teacher.  "Buffy is still sick…she only made it through third period before she got sick again…"

            Xander looked over at Willow, and then slowly stepped over to her.  "Willow, do you really think Buffy should be missing this much of school just so she can hang with Faith?"

            Willow shrugged and looked at Xander.  "I know Buffy needs to get closer to Faith since she's a slayer too, but I for once agree with you."

            Xander jokingly frowned at her and looked towards the teacher, and then looked back at Willow.  "Is this class ever going to start?"

            Buffy headed into the hospital on a mission.  She had to find the old man before he did anymore damage to her mother, or any other patient he could be around.  She looked around her, and then looked at Faith.  "Faith, why don't you take the upper floor, and I'll check this one.  Meet me back her in thirty minutes."  She headed off down the hallway, leaving Faith with a puzzled look on her face.  

            Faith watched Buffy head off and sighed softly.  _She really is taking this way too seriously for my taste…how much damage can an old man do anyways? _  She let her thoughts drift away and made her way over to the elevator then stopped in her tracks when the old man appeared right in front of her.  "What the he-..."  Faith flew through the air and into a nearby wall when the man struck her.  "Buffy!"

            Buffy heard Faith's voice and ran back down towards the main lobby area.  "Get away from her!  I'm the one you want."  Buffy didn't care about the people staring at them; all she cared about was getting Faith out of here.  She did a flip in the air and came crashing down onto the man with a kick to the head.  She and Faith gasped when the head fell from his head and rolled to the floor.  "Disgusting…"  She looked at Faith, then at the head and jumped back when the eyes opened and looked up at her.  She kicked it towards Faith and watched the body of the old man crumple to the floor.

            Faith looked down at head and crashed her foot down onto it.  "What do you want me to do with it?  I'm not the one who had to go and decapitate the guy."  Faith stomped on the head again and again until blood started to ooze.

            Buffy looked down at the body then around at the onlookers.  "We're just doing something for a movie…no bid deal."  She pulled a fake smile and picked the body up.  "Just cheap props and everything."  She nodded at Faith to get the head.

            Faith cleared her throat and shook her head.  "Maybe we can just leave this part here."  She sighed when Buffy gave her a look and carefully picked up the head.  "Why do we always have to have the gross jobs?"

            Rupert Giles had finished examining the body of the old man and was quite shocked at what he found out.  "Buffy, Faith…this isn't really the demon you were supposed to go after, is it?"  

            Buffy nodded and glanced at Faith.  "He was the one who's been causing all the problems…at least I hope he was."

            Faith looked at Giles.  "Buffy assumed the thing was a demon, so I went with her idea and everything…how were we supposed to know he was just some innocent old guy snooping on people?"

            Buffy sunk down into a chair and sighed.  "At least he won't be snooping on my mom anymore…"  She ran her fingers through her hair and stared at the body.  "Maybe he has like two forms…human and demon."  She stood from the chair and looked at Giles.  "I know something is up with him.  I sensed from the moment I saw him that something was different about him, Giles.  You and I both know I wouldn't act out on something unless I was sure about it."

            Giles shook his head and looked at Buffy. "Buffy you have to understand that there's not a trace of demon in the man.  If he does have two forms, then he'll regenerate into his demon form once he heals."

            "Then all we have to do is wait for the freak to heal," Faith said bluntly.  "It's not that hard to understand that much.'

            Buffy nodded to what Faith said.  "She's right…if he is a demon, then all we have to do is wait."

            An hour later nothing happened.  An hour turned into two, and two turned into three.  Buffy was beginning to lose hope in her theory.  She stopped pacing and looked at Giles.  "I'm getting out of here…I can't take this much longer…"  She headed out of Giles' place and out onto the streets and started walking.  She felt horrible about what she had done at the hospital, and knew someone had to of called the police about what had happened.  She glanced over her shoulder and saw Faith heading in the opposite direction making her way home.  She shook her head and let out a heavy sigh.  

            Buffy ended up going back home and crashing on the couch.  She woke up at a startle and came face to face with Angel.  "What are you doing here?  It's still light…ok, maybe it's not still light out."  She glanced at the clock and realized her nap had turned into about 6 hours of sleep.  

            Angel straightened up and looked down at her.  "I heard on the streets about what happened…apparently you really did kill a demon."

            Buffy sat up and looked up at her boyfriend.  "Giles said that he was human though."  She stood, stretched slightly and bit her bottom lip slightly.  "What type of demon was he?"

            "A transformer.  They kill humans and take over their body and use it for their own purposes.  He was attempting to take over your mother's body to get to you, but you caught him and he wasn't able to complete his task.  He's still alive, but he needs another body."

            Buffy arched a brow slightly and looked around the living room, and then looked back at Angel with a shocked look on her face.  "I left Giles alone at his place with that thing still in there."

            Angel looked at Buffy and smiled slightly.  "Giles can protect himself.  Plus, the demon needs to have his head back on his body in order to kill.  Since you decapitated him, the demon will need a couple of days in order to regenerate himself."

            Buffy nodded and checked her pocket for her stake, then looked at Angel.  "If this guy can heal himself like you say he can, how am I supposed to kill him?"

            "That's the hard part.  You have to catch him in his demon form.  In order to do that, you need to be with him when he regenerates and moves out of the old body and into a new one."

            "So you're saying I should use Giles as bait?  He's not going to like that idea."  She stepped over to a chest and pulled out her favorite weapons, then looked at Angel.  "I guess you won't be able to help me out with this one…they still don't know that you're back."

            Angel looked down, then back at her.  "I have faith in you that you'll be able to do this one on your own, Buffy." 

            Buffy opened her mouth to say something back, but then realized he had left.  She stared at the open door and suddenly felt a pang of guilt for not telling anyone that Angel was back.

            Buffy and Faith were back at Giles' place again to watch over the demon.  Buffy reluctantly told Giles about the plan she had thought up.  "It's not going to be that bad, Giles.  Faith and I will be upstairs, and when the demon appears, all you have to do is haul butt and get us.  It's a great plan once you think about it, so…just don't worry."

            Faith smirked and looked at Buffy.  "I just want to know how you thought of such a plan, B.  Usually Giles is the one to think of such things." 

            Buffy looked at Faith and shrugged.  "No need to ask how I thought about it.  You should be asking how you're going to kick the demons ass."  She tossed Faith an axe and made her way upstairs to camp out up there.

            Faith looked at Giles, and then at the axe in her hands.  "Just don't fall asleep or anything.  Even though Buffy said it would take a couple of days, you can never tell with these types of demons."

            Giles looked towards Faith and gave her a look.  "You think I don't know that?  I am a Watcher, Faith."

            "I never said you weren't one, I was just stating a dumb fact."  She headed upstairs and sat down next to Buffy on the top step.  "He sure does get moody when he life is on the line."

            Buffy laughed softly and looked at her.  "I would too if I were in that type of predicament."  

            The next day, Buffy checked up on Giles downstairs, then sat back down at her post and watched the demon.  She had made another call to Willow asking her is she could cover for her again since this was an emergency.  She was thankful that she had Willow to cover for her when she needed her, but you felt that she was just using Willow as an excuse to get out of school.  She shrugged the thought off and looked at Faith still asleep.  She shook her lightly and looked back down at the demon.  She shook Faith harder when she saw the movement of the head.  "Faith," she hissed softly.

            Faith stirred awake and looked up at Buffy.  "I was having the nicest dream…"  She sat up and looked down at the demon when Buffy placed a finger to her lips to keep her quiet.  Her eyes widened slightly as her and Buffy watched the head slowly make its way back onto the body.  She carefully picked up her axe, and looked towards Giles.  She knew at once that the plan wasn't going to work.  Giles had fallen asleep sometime during the night even through his efforts not to.  She looked at Buffy with a worried expression struck on her face.

            Buffy glanced at Faith, and then shrugged.  She waited for the demon to come out of the old man's body, then stood and leaped over the edge of the stairs and landed firmly in front of the demon.  "Remember me?"  She ducked the demon's blow that would have knocked her off her feet and returned it with a rib splitting kick to the chest.

            Faith ran down the stairs, got Giles from the chair and made her way back upstairs and placed him in his room, then returned to help Buffy with the fight.  She swung the axe and hacked at the demon's arm.  "Don't you just love this weapon?"

            "What girl wouldn't?"  She flipped behind the demon, grabbed a sword and sliced the demon's arm off that Faith had been working on.  "Is this too easy, or is it just me?"

            "I think it's going to get even easier."  She jump kicked the demon and knocked him onto the tip of Buffy's sword, landed back onto the floor and kicked him deeper onto the sword.  "Awesome move."

            Buffy shoved the sword up into the demon's heart and stepped beside Faith to watch the demon's death.  "Thanks for getting Giles out of here…I guess the plan sort of worked."

            Buffy returned the hospital a few hours later to see her mom checking out of the hospital.  "Mom?  I thought you would be here for a bit longer."  She headed over to her and leaned forward slightly to gain access to a better view of her mother's face.  She smiled slightly at the sight of her mother's perfect face.

            Joyce looked at her daughter, then finished filling out the release papers and looked back at Buffy.  "Apparently some miracle happened, and I woke up.  Maybe someone was watching over me while I was here."

            It then dawned on Buffy that the death of the demon restored her mother's life.  She gave her mother a big hug and kissed her cheek.  "I'll fill you in on everything once we get home.  I might leave out a few little details, but I think you'll get the gist of everything."

            Joyce nodded, and then looked at her daughter again.  "How's school been, sweetie?"

            Buffy smiled again and shrugged.  "It's been…great."

            After Buffy filled her mother in on what happened, she wasn't so sure if she would ever be able to go patrolling again.  Her mother was making it very clear that she didn't like her daughter putting her life on the line every night of the week to kill demons.  She smiled slightly at the thought of what her mother had said.  _"Do you really have to do it on a school night?"  She had replied with a simple _"Yes, mom"_ and a sweet daughter smile.  Someone had to get rid of the things that go 'bump' in the night, even if it did involve having to worry about school._


	7. Ch7

Ch.7

Buffy didn't know what to do. She could either call Faith or have to hold her to a promise, or do something on her own. She looked around her, and knew she had to have backup. _Ok…what if I get Angel? I know he'll come and help me in a heartbeat, _she thought to herself. "I'm going to get Angel," she said aloud to reassure herself. She jogged in the direction of Angel's mansion, and stopped dead in her tracks when a massive demon stepped out in front of her. "Hi, I'm Buffy. What's your name?" The demon didn't respond. She hated when that happened. "Are you the strong silent type?" She soon found out he played rough. She was knocked off her feet before she could think of another quirky comment to say. She was on her feet again, and arched a brow when the demon was nowhere in sight. "Quitter!"

"Giles, I swear he was huge! He knocked me off my feet before I even had a chance to react to anything. He was gone by the time I got up. How do you explain that?"

"I really don't know what to tell you, Buffy. Obviously I need to do research though…and I thought I was going to have the night off."

"You thought **you** were going to have the night off?? I thought I would have the joy of having the night off with my **mother**, Giles. Let's not forget she just got out of the hospital like two days ago." She paced the living room, stopped and looked back at him. "Why can't I just have Faith deal with something for once? She's a slayer just like I am." As soon as she mentioned her name, the brunette slayer entered the house.

"Glad to know someone was talking about me. I can tell you were by the look on your face." She sat down on the couch and looked at the both of them. "What's the emergency? Got another bad ass wannabe to kill?"

Giles took off his glasses, cleaned them, put them back on and looked at Faith. "I'm glad to know someone wants to get rid of a demon." He glanced at Buffy, saw the look on her face and knew she was about to protest. He cut her off before she could, and looked back at Faith. "Buffy was out patrolling and came across a "very big" demon. She didn't have a chance to get a look at him."

"No way! I totally saw him on my way over here. I thought he looked rather stupid if you ask me." Faith stood, looked at Buffy and laughed. "You mean you couldn't take him down? You have the guts to send you boyfriend to Hell, but you can't kill a demon?"

Buffy looked down at her feet, sighed softly and looked at her least favorite person at the moment. "Thanks, Faith." She turned, headed out of the house and made her way for home.

Faith looked at Giles with a puzzled look on her face. "Was it something I said?"

Sometimes people knew how to piss her off, and Faith knew the right buttons to push. She knew she shouldn't have walked out, but she needed to get out of Giles' house way before Faith showed up. She ran her fingers through her hair and stopped walking and looked around her. "Ok…I'm having a really bad night. If you want to save your ass from getting kicked too badly, you'll come out right now."

"I could sense that from the moment I saw you." Angel stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of Buffy. "What's wrong?"

She looked at her boyfriend, shook her head and folded her arms over her chest. "Someone ruffled my feathers is all. I got whooped by a demon earlier, and then cut down by Faith a moment ago. It's just rough."

"Rough? The fact that you haven't told anyone I'm back yet? That's rough to me if you ever want to know."

"Angel, please don't start in on me too. I'm sorry I haven't told anyone, but I don't know how I'm going to when it comes down to it. I'll get to it when I think of something to say."

"Why don't we talk at my place? We could train if you wanted to." He didn't care if she said 'no', he would get her there no matter what the cost.

Buffy looked around the living room of the mansion, and then looked at Angel. "Seems like I haven't been here in ages, yet I was here last night." She sat down, looked up at him and he stood by her. "I wish you could tell me what I'm supposed to do." She looked down and rested her head in her hands. "I can't stay long…I need to be home soon."

"Buffy…don't even try to back out of something." He sat down by her and took her in his arms. "I missed you more than you'll ever know when I was gone."

"No…it won't work." She shook out of his embrace and stood from the couch. "You and I both know nothing between us won't work." She retreated into his bedroom and looked at the bed, then at Angel when he was by her side a moment later. She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head against his chest.

Xander's eyes were so wide they must have been bulging from his head. He couldn't believe what he saw. There was no possible way Angel could be back, not now.

The next morning at school Xander was more than pissed. He hadn't talked to Buffy the whole day, but now he had to since it was lunch. He looked at her as he ate, knew she had no clue he knew Angel was back. "So what did you do last night, Buff?"

"After I left Giles' place, I went home and watched a movie with my mom, why?" She took a sip of her drink, looked at her friend and was curious as to why he looked mad all of a sudden.

"I just thought maybe you were at Angel's is all." A sly smile slid across his face, and he didn't even feel guilty at the look on Buffy's face. "Not that I would know anything about that though."

Cordelia decided to chime in on the conversation. "Why would she go there? He's dead, remember?" She caught the look on Xander's face, and looked down at the table. "Oh."

Buffy look at Cordelia, then at Willow and Oz who had a shocked expression on their faces. "I was going to tell you guys, but I was going to wait for the right moment. Since Xander was kind enough to tell you for me, I guess I don't need to now though. Thanks ever so much, Xander."

Xander smiled triumphantly and gave a small nod. "Anytime, Buff, anytime."

Buffy made her way into the library and frowned at seeing Xander talking to Giles. _God, what is this? Everyone gang up against Buffy day? The only reason I came in here was to tell Giles about Angel, and oh crap. I hate it when he looks at me like that, _she thought to herself. "Hiya, Giles. Just thought I'd drop in and say hi, which I did, so now I think I'm going to class now. Don't want to be tardy." She turned to leave, but stopped at hearing the clearing of Giles' throat. "Ok, ok…what do you want to know?"

Buffy felt relieved that she finally got the news out about Angel, but then she felt horrible because she knew Giles was really upset about it. He had written her an excuse note allowing her to go to class without having to worry about being counted tardy. She stared down at her desk; glad the teacher was a sub. She looked to her side at Xander working on homework from another class, then at her other side at Willow reading a book. If only she could tell Giles that Angel was himself again, and that he wasn't going to be a threat. She closed her eyes at having a flashback of having to fight Angelus, finding Kendra dead, fighting Angelus again and having to send him to Hell in order to close a portal he had opened. She thought about what really would have happened if the portal hadn't been closed. She would be suffering in someplace she never wanted to be, and she would never be able to get out. She jumped slightly when the bell ringed, signaling the end of the period. She shrugged off her feeling of discomfort, grabbed her stuff and headed out of the classroom without even waiting on Xander and Willow.

Willow watched Buffy go and punched Xander lightly on the arm. "You should have let her tell us on her own. I've never seen her like this, and it's all your fault." She gathered up her stuff and headed out of the room with him. "Don't you feel just a bit guilty for what you did? Did you see the look on her face when you brought it up? It crushed me even to see it."

Xander shrugged, looked at his best friend and sighed softly. "I do feel slightly bad, but it's not because I told everyone. It's because I should have found out sooner. Why should I worry about what I do or say?"

Willow rolled her eyes. "Do you want to lose a friendship?" She looked around her and smiled at the sight of her boyfriend. "Hey, Oz." She twined their fingers when he took her hand in his and looked back at Xander. "Ask Oz what he thinks."

Xander had his turn at rolling his eyes. "Just to make you happy, but I know I'm the right one." He looked at Oz and gave him a small smile. "Just give me a short 'yes' or 'no' like you usually do." He cleared his throat and dragged it out, then stopped when Willow gave him a look. "Women…Ok, Oz…do you think I did the right thing about the whole Angel situation?"

Oz knew from the beginning that he wouldn't be able to give a simple answer; he knew Xander had the same thought. "You probably should have let her come out on her own, but if she waited this long on not telling us, then she probably wasn't going to tell us at all. I personally thing you did the right thing."

Willow gave Oz a shocked look. "I can't believe you're actually agreeing with something that he did. He hurt Buffy, Oz. I need to get to class." She freed her hand from his and stormed off to her next class.

Buffy was oblivious to what was going on around her after school. The only thing she knew for sure was that someone was following her. She looked over her shoulder but saw no one in sight. _Gimme a break…I'm probably just wigging myself out about nothing. Knew I should have let mom come pick me up instead of walking home. Ok, wait…I'm the slayer, not some helpless girl. _She looked around her again, then turned and made her way into the park where she knew no one would be in case she needed to fight. She sat down on a bench and heard it, the snapping of a tree branch. _Gotcha. _"Oh help me…I'm a poor girl who can't fight." She jerked her head to the left and saw her demon from last night. "You should know that from last night, buddy."

The demon growled, but didn't make a move. "You killed my brother, slayer."

"Your brother? Sorry, I don't remember killing anyone that looked like you. Musta been the other one." She didn't move from the bench, she was smart enough to know to say put until he made a move to fight.  
"He was younger than me by 200 years. He was young, too young to die at your hands."

"200 years?? Your parents got late into the game when it came to having another…thing for a kid." The only demon she knew she killed recently was that Blues demon, but she knew it wasn't him. "Wait…are you a shape shifter thingy? Whatever you guys are called at least."

He nodded and took a step towards her. "I need a new body, and yours would do quite nicely."

Buffy laughed at hearing that. "Oh please. Your hips couldn't even dream of fitting into these pants." She stood and took a fighting stance. "Bring it on, chubby." She blocked his first blows, and then came back with her own that connected. She roundhouse kicked him and kicked him solidly to the chest. Her fists soon started flying, each one hitting different locations on the demon's body. She wished she had a weapon to kill him with, and knew she only had a stake that was in her backpack. She flipped over to the bench, quickly pulled the stake from her bag and rushed the demon. She knocked him off his feet and slammed the stake all over his body. She knew she had to do something more and looked around her. "Why can't I carry swords or something? Oh, wait, I know. You can't have those in school." She stood, looked down at the groaning demon. "I'm going to hunt you down and finish this. The only reason you're still alive is because I don't have the right weapon. I'm going to hunt you down day and night. Actually, you can count on being dead tonight." She grabbed her bag and headed out of the park without even looking back. The next minute, she lay unconscious on the grass.

Faith paced the living room of Giles' apartment. "How could Buffy not check in? I know she's upset about the whole Angel thing, but she didn't even get home after school. Maybe she ran away again."

"I don't think she would do that again. That would leave you in charge of everything here, and she couldn't live with that." Willow took a bite of a cookie and looked at Faith. She didn't like Faith from the start, and she never would.

"I can't be the good slayer? I am a good slayer, but you know what I mean."

Willow really didn't, but then she could care less. "Giles, have you found out anything about the demon Buffy told you about?"

Giles shook his head and sat down on the couch next to her. "He isn't in any of the books, but I haven't read any of the journals yet." He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If things are correct, Buffy went missing after school."

Xander came in at that moment, an irritated look on his face. "Look who followed me over."

Angel came in after him, and looked around at everyone. "If Buffy has disappeared, there's not way I'm not going to be in this conversation."

Buffy slowly woke and groaned. Her head ached and she just knew she had an ugly bump at the back of her head. She tried to move her hands, and then realized she was chained to a wall. She took in her surroundings despite the lack of light. She was in a basement/cellar sort of room. All she knew was that she had to get out. The last time she was chained to a wall it involved a big snake thing. She yanked her hands down and sighed when that didn't work. She looked up to see they were firmly planted into the ceiling. She blinked when lights suddenly came on, and she couldn't help but shriek at the rats covering the floor.

Giles worked around having Angel in his home. He had to be of some use since he was a demon, but he could care less. He was the demon that tortured him for countless hours trying to squeeze information out of him. He told everyone on where to start searching, and sent Angel specifically to the park.

Buffy looked towards the stairs she could now see and saw the demon make his way down them. "When my friends find out where I am, your ass is grass." She worked on the chains again, but failed to set herself free. "I've been in worse situations, and I've gotten free. This is no different." She looked down to see a rat go across her boot. _Do they know how much these cost? _She kicked the rat away from her and jumped back as to where her feet were planted on the wall behind her. She glared at the demon. "What's your name anyways? Please don't tell me it's Blues or something"

The demon watched her closely. "My name is Jack. My mother named me well, slayer, and you'll find everything out soon. You'll find everything out very soon." He headed back up the stairs, but left the lights on this time.

"Better for me to see all my furry friends…" She walked up the wall slightly. "This has to work." She did a flip as to where she was facing the wall and managed to walk up to the ceiling and work on the chains. A few minutes later she was on the ground free from the chains. "How cool is that?" She looked around for a weapon, and then looked at her wrists. "Could easily use these babies as a weapon."

Angel looked down at the bag and knew immediately that it belonged to Buffy. He looked around the surrounding area, and saw a path of grass that looked like someone had been dragged. He knew blood had been spilled, he could smell it all around him. He followed the direction the dragging had gone and followed the scent he knew was Buffy's. _Should go back and get the others, but there's no time for that. She could be in serious danger. _

Soon Buffy was making her way up the stairs to kill the demon once and for all. "Hey, Jack, why don't come out and play?" She stood on the top step, and found herself on her back on the floor. "Ouch...I said play." She stood, shook her head and rolled her eyes at the swords Jack had in his hands. "I get it now. Your name is like a Jack the Ripper type thing isn't it? Your mother was just plain dumb for naming you that." She looked over his shoulder to see Angel behind him. "You're going to die in someone else's hands."

Buffy told her story of what happened and smiled at seeing the look on Willow's face when she mentioned the rats. Faith was jealous for not being able to be at her side to kick Jack's ass, and Angel…he wasn't there. She knew why he wasn't, but it hurt that after he saved her life he disappeared. She stood from the couch and rested her hands on her hips. "I'm going to do a patrol. With those two goofs gone I need to kill something easy, like a vamp. Let's get going', Faith."

"You going to take me along this time, B?"

"Let's not forget that I was chained and missing when I left you behind."

"Point taken. Let's go kick some ass. Maybe we can find a nest or something and burn them to Hell."

"I like that, but it's too messy. I think a stake will do just fine."

Giles watched as the two slayers left the Summers' home to go for yet another patrol.


	8. Chapter 8

Ch.8 The Final Stand

The next day at school Buffy was on a mission. She knew that she had to set things straight with her friends before she could set things right with Angel. She found Willow easily by heading to the library to find her studying for a test. "Hey, Willow, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Willow glanced up from her textbook and shook her head. "Buffy, I know you came here to talk about Angel. I know that you care for him and I have nothing against you for wanting to be with him." She looked up at Buffy and gave her a smile. "I understand why you wanted to hide him. You wanted him for yourself to know that he was actually back and the way he used to be. Now, I have a test to study for. I think I saw Xander sitting outside."

"Thanks, Wil, I'll catch up with you later." Buffy headed out of the library and saw Cordelia at the end of the hall. _Like I really care about what she thinks_, Buffy thought to herself. She made her way to the courtyard area and spotted Xander talking to one of his friends and headed towards him.

Xander saw Buffy coming a mile away and rolled his eyes. "I don't you to say a word to me until I get my thoughts out." He dragged her to the library, the only slayer safe conversation safe room. "Guess Willow finished studying, wish I could be motivated enough to come to school early to study for two hours." He sat on top of one of the tables and looked at Buffy. "Let's set one thing straight, you're always going to be my best friend, no matter what ridiculous choices you make. However, Angel is a huge mistake. Do you know what it felt like for me to see you with him? You didn't care to tell me and Willow about him. Why? Are you that stupid to be with him by yourself? Am I the only one who knows what he did not so long ago? He tried to kill us, Buffy. He killed Jenny and left her for Giles to find. Angel is a monster, and I don't know how he came back, but he didn't stay in Hell long enough." He looked at Buffy and could see she wanted to say something; he shook his head 'no'. "You were so close to being killed, Buffy. You may be the one and only slayer, well not now…..but Angel weakens you. He's lived for over two hundred years or whatever, and he would still be Angelus if he wouldn't have killed the wrong girl and gotten a soul. He has no remorse for what he does; I don't care what you say. I trust you, but I will never trust him. If you're with him, I don't want to know because I could care less." He looked over to see Giles come out of his office.

Buffy just stood there, amazed that Xander could talk to her that way. "I know you heard what he said, Giles, you had your door open. Tell me that you don't agree with him."

"I'm sorry, Buffy." Giles left the library without even looking at her.

"This is stupid! I was there too when Willow's fish died and I was almost killed. I try to push those memories back into my mind, but I can't. I know what he did in his past and a few months ago. You don't know what it feels like to kill the man I loved after kissing him when he got his soul back. I sent him to Hell to suffer, Xander. Don't you dare preach to me about he has no remorse. He lives with what he did everyday. You can go to Hell, Xander." She turned on her heel and stormed out of the library to sit in class as pissed as she'd ever been.

* * *

After school let out Buffy headed over to talk to Faith. She knocked on her motel room door. "Faith, I surprisingly need to talk to you. Are you there?" She waited for a response but didn't get one. "You just had to go out and party now???" She let out a huff and looked around her. For once in her life she didn't know what to do. She felt her eyes water and wiped a tear away. _Don't you dare cry, don't break down. You've done nothing wrong to deserve crappy treatment from a guy who dated a total bitch, _she thought to herself. The only thing she knew to do was head over to Angel's place and hope that he was awake.

She reached the mansion rather quickly, looked down at her watch; it was 4:00 p.m. She knocked on the door and then let herself in. "Angel?" She looked around the darkened living room and saw a figure appear in the doorway of the bedroom. A smile slipped across her face when she saw it was Angel. "I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, but I don't know where to go. I don't want to go home and I don't want to be around anyone but you." She sat down on the couch and welcomed his embrace when he sat beside her on the couch.

"I've never seen school be so rough to you. I'm guessing you talked to everyone today." He ran his fingers through her hair, trying his best to relax her.

"Oh yeah, and that was fun. Willow was very understanding, but Xander and Giles not so much. Giles walked out on me and Xander gave me a lecture about how wrong it is to want to be with you and that you're well, evil. I snapped back and him and told him to go to Hell. I could really care less what he thinks about, I just want you."

"I'm glad that you sorted things out with yourself and know that you want to be with me, but I'm not sure I want that if things aren't right with Xander and Giles. I know they won't trust me again; especially Giles, but they're your best friends. Giles is your Watcher, Buffy. If things aren't set right with him then you'll lose focus on your slaying." He frowned when Buffy sat up and left his embrace. "Don't be upset with me, Buffy, please. I just want to help you."

"I just don't get it. Giles will never trust you again….and Xander, I don't know if he'll even talk to me again." She leaned forward and placed her head in her hands. "Why is this so hard?"

"It's not hard, it's hard because you're making it that way." He ran his hand along her shoulders and neck and down her back. "Just talk to Giles and Xander again. If you do it for any reason, do it for me."

Buffy nodded and looked over at him. Her eyes met his and she melted. She couldn't resist his dark eyes that made her love him. She placed her hand on his cheek and nodded again. "Once this is all settled, I'm all yours." She chewed on her bottom lip in thought then kissed him lightly. "I'll see you later, I'll have to patrol…hopefully I can fill you in on things." She kissed him again, wanting to feel his lips against hers. She got up and left before anything else happened.

Angel watched her go, a small smile on his face.

* * *

Buffy found the gang at Gile's house and slowly made her way in. She folded her arms over her chest and looked at Giles and Xander. "I'm going to stand my ground by what I said. Again, I don't care what either of you think. "Giles, you may be my Watcher and mentor, and I understand that you'll never trust Angel for what happened to Jenny, but I love him. I lost someone just like you did. I know how it feels…" she closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts and opened them to look at Xander. "Do you not want me to be happy? I'm happy when I'm with him; I feel complete and wanted with him. If you knew what it meant to have a meaningful relationship where both people are respected and care for, you would understand. I know you two will never understand Angel, but please…just let me be happy. He's back in my life, I don't know how or why, but he is and I'm so beyond thankful for that." She glanced at Willow who gave her a node of approval. "Well, what do you have to say?"

"I think you're always going to be a joke as a slayer, but that's just me." Faith was leaning against the front doorway with a smirk on her face. "If you love the guy or whatever, screw those two. You're the girl with the power; they'll never be as powerful as you."

"Thanks, Faith…I think." Buffy gave her a smile and motioned her to sit on the couch.

"Just trying to sound like I have important things to say, and that's the only positive piece of advice you'll ever get from me." Faith made her way over and plopped down on the couch to watch the show.

Xander let out a laugh and shook his head. "It's funny that you come here to try to set things right after you tell me to go to Hell. I don't like the guy, but if you want to be all happy and feel good about yourself, then I'll accept that you want to be with Angel. Again, I do not like the idea or Angel." He said his goodbyes and left.

"Alright, B, now you only have to worry about Giles. Too bad he's the only person whose opinion you really care about." Faith held her hands up in innocence after Buffy gave her a 'shut up' look.

"I never gave any approval or disapproval about Angel, Buffy. I just don't want you to lose any focus on your slaying. I'm your Watcher, and you will listen to what I have to say when it comes to your patrolling. I agree with Xander, don't approve of Angel, but I will not stop you in your life decisions." Giles took a sip of his tea and went into the study.

Buffy glanced at the clock, knowing it was going to be dark in a couple hours. She placed her hands on her hips and looked at Willow and Faith. "Well, I guess this is kinda sorted out now. I guess the only thing I can go now is just focus on patrolling tonight. Faith, are you up for separating tonight and covering a bigger area?"

"Yeah, I'm down for that. At least then I wouldn't have to be held back by you." Faith stood, stretched and gave Buffy a pat on the back. "At least you stand up for yourself. Well, I guess I'll go change into something more comfortable and catch up with you later." She left to head back to her motel room.

"Buffy, don't worry so much. Everything will work itself out. I have a date with Oz, so I need to go take a shower and get changed. I'll see you tomorrow." Willow left Buffy in case she wanted to talk more with Giles and headed home.

Buffy headed into the study and watched Giles skim through books. "I guess I'm going to go home and rest before patrolling…." She trailed off and nodded when Giles didn't say anything. "Alrighty then, I guess I'll check in with you afterwards." She left the house and made her way home to take a power nap.

* * *

Buffy felt at peace in the graveyard, which made sense since it was the final resting place for people. She tossed her stake in the air and let it fall to the ground beside her. "Come on…" she looked at the grave name behind her "James Hash and just rise so that I can kill you and go home to a nice warm bed." She leaned back on her hands and played with the grass. She perked up when she felt the presence of someone around her and picked up her stake. She relaxed when Angel came into view and let her stake drop back to the ground. "I don't get how you can just come around without making a sound. Usually no matter what, someone makes a sound."

Angel sat beside her and smiled. "I am a vampire; I've had plenty of years to work on my stealth. You look a lot better, like you've gotten things resolved."

Buffy nodded and relaxed against him. "I did, and I do feel better, at peace. As I said before, I'm all yours now." She smiled when she heard the earth be ripped apart behind her. "It's about time, I've been waiting on this guy for like thirty minutes." She picked up her stake and threw it behind her and smiled again when she heard the vampire dust. "I don't think my life could get any better than this moment right here. I have no complaints."

"I'm glad." Angel wrapped his arms around her. "I have no complaints either."


End file.
